Re:Gender works to end gender inequity by exposing root causes and advancing research-informed action. Working with multiple sectors and disciplines, we are shaping a world that demands fairness across difference.

Hot Off the Presses!

New book releases!

Winning the War for Talent in Emerging Markets: Why Women Are the Solution

Sylvia Ann Hewlett, Ripa Rashid

Harvard Business Press Books

The war for talent is heating up in emerging markets. Without enough "brain power," multinationals can't succeed in these markets. Yet they're approaching the war in the wrong way-bringing in expats and engaging in bidding wars for hotshot local "male" managers. The solution is hiding in plain sight: the millions of highly educated women surging into the labor markets of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and the United Arab Emirates. Increasingly, these women boast better credentials, higher ambitions, and greater loyalty than their male peers. But there's a catch: Attracting and retaining talented women in emerging economies requires different strategies than those used in mature markets. Complex cultural forces - family-related "pulls," such as daughterly duties to parents and in-laws, and work-related "pushes," such as extreme hours and dangerous commutes - force women to settle for dead-end jobs, switch to the public sector, or leave the workforce entirely. In Winning the War for Talent in Emerging Markets, Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Ripa Rashid analyze these forces and present strategies for countering them, including: (1) Sustaining ambition through stretch opportunities and international assignments, (2) Combating cultural bias by building an infrastructure for female leadership (networks, mentors, sponsors), (3) Introducing flexible work arrangements to accommodate family obligations, and (4) Providing safe transportation, such as employer-subsidized taxi services. Drawing on groundbreaking research, amplified with on-the-ground examples from companies as diverse as Google, Infosys, Goldman Sachs, and Siemens, this book is required reading for all companies seeking to strengthen their talent pipeline in these rich and expanding markets.

Elizabeth and Hazel: Two Women of Little Rock

David Margolick

Yale University Press

The names Elizabeth Eckford and Hazel Bryan Massery may not be well known, but the image of them from September 1957 surely is: a black high school girl, dressed in white, walking stoically in front of Little Rock Central High School, and a white girl standing directly behind her, face twisted in hate, screaming racial epithets. This famous photograph captures the full anguish of desegregation—in Little Rock and throughout the South—and an epic moment in the civil rights movement.

In this gripping book, David Margolick tells the remarkable story of two separate lives unexpectedly braided together. He explores how the haunting picture of Elizabeth and Hazel came to be taken, its significance in the wider world, and why, for the next half-century, neither woman has ever escaped from its long shadow. He recounts Elizabeth’s struggle to overcome the trauma of her hate-filled school experience, and Hazel’s long efforts to atone for a fateful, horrible mistake. The book follows the painful journey of the two as they progress from apology to forgiveness to reconciliation and, amazingly, to friendship. This friendship foundered, then collapsed—perhaps inevitably—over the same fissures and misunderstandings that continue to permeate American race relations more than half a century after the unforgettable photograph at Little Rock. And yet, as Margolick explains, a bond between Elizabeth and Hazel, silent but complex, endures.

David Margolick is contributing editor, Vanity Fair, and a frequent contributor to the New York Times Book Review.

Reimagining Equality: Stories of Gender, Race, and Finding Home

Anita Hill

Beacon

From the heroic lawyer who spoke out against Clarence Thomas in the historic confirmation hearings twenty years ago, Anita Hill's first book since the best-selling Speaking Truth to Power.

In 1991, Anita Hill's courageous testimony during the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings sparked a national conversation on sexual harassment and women's equality in politics and the workplace. Today, she turns her attention to another potent and enduring symbol of economic success and equality-the home. Hill details how the current housing crisis, resulting in the devastation of so many families, so many communities, and even whole cities, imperils every American's ability to achieve the American Dream.

Hill takes us on a journey that begins with her own family story and ends with the subprime mortgage meltdown. Along the way, she invites us into homes across America, rural and urban, and introduces us to some extraordinary African American women. As slavery ended, Mollie Elliott, Hill's ancestor, found herself with an infant son and no husband. Yet, she bravely set course to define for generations to come what it meant to be a free person of color. On the eve of the civil rights and women's rights movements, Lorraine Hansberry's childhood experience of her family's fight against racial restrictions in a Chicago neighborhood ended tragically for the Hansberry family. Yet, that episode shaped Lorraine's hopeful account of early suburban integration in her iconic American drama A Raisin in the Sun. Two decades later, Marla, a divorced mother, endeavors to keep her children safe from a growing gang presence in 1980s Los Angeles. Her story sheds light on the fears and anxiety countless parents faced during an era of growing neighborhood isolation, and that continue today. In the midst of the 2008 recession, hairdresser Anjanette Booker's dogged determination to keep her Baltimore home and her salon reflects a commitment to her own independence and to her community's economic and social viability. Finally, Hill shares her own journey to a place and a state of being at home that brought her from her roots in rural Oklahoma to suburban Boston, Massachusetts, and connects her own search for home with that of women and men set adrift during the foreclosure crisis.

The ability to secure a place that provides access to every opportunity our country has to offer is central to the American Dream. To achieve that ideal, Hill argues, we and our leaders must engage in a new conversation about what it takes to be at home in America. Pointing out that the inclusive democracy our Constitution promises is bigger than the current debate about legal rights, she presents concrete proposals that encourage us to reimagine equality. Hill offers a twenty-first-century vision of America-not a vision of migration, but one of roots; not one simply of tolerance, but one of belonging; not just of rights, but also of community-a community of equals.

In the Media

Click here to read a preview of a Q&A with Hill to be printed in Ebony.

“Her book, lucid about law, lively with smatterings of history and reminders of cultural markers, may open that conversation.”

Review By: Robert Reich, - August 15, 2011

“With extraordinary grace and clarity, Anita Hill weaves the story of her family with that of other American families struggling to find and define homes for themselves. What emerges is a powerful story of our nation’s ongoing quest for equality of opportunity, viewed through the eyes of the people who have been deeply engaged in that quest. Beautifully written, elegantly seen, compellingly argued.”

Review Library Journal - October 1, 2011

"Serious readers of all kinds, especially those interested in current affairs and social policy, will appreciate a book that is both highly readable and deeply analytical.”

Quotes"Anita Hill has written a compelling book about the plight of women historically and now. This book is a must-read for anyone who is committed to gender equality, and will be invaluable to those who are trying to understand many of the burdens that women, black and white face, in their everyday lives. They remind us that we still have to come to grips with issues of race and gender, and that we need to reimagine the question of equality for all." —Charles J. Ogletree Jr., author of The Presumption of Guilt

"In a book that is rigorous and heartfelt, sharply analytical and deeply moving, Anita Hill examines the idea of what 'home' means to Americans. Bringing to bear her formidable skills as a scholar of American law, history, and culture, Hill has produced a personal narrative that reaches across color and class to explore how our family homes and our national home are inextricably linked to how we understand achievement, opportunity, and equality."—Henry Louis Gates, Jr., author of Colored People

"Combining the sincerity of memoir and the rigor of sociology, Anita Hill looks at home as a physical space, but also as a microcosm of American society. The women profiled in this engaging and moving book illustrate the challenges of living in America as a raced and gendered person while simultaneously demonstrating the beauty of resistance and the triumphs of family, community, and faith. Hill connects the dots between the home-making efforts of African Americans just after Reconstruction and the heartbreaking (and enraging) consequences of the subprime mortgage scandal. After reading this book, you will never see a house as just four walls and a roof. It is a dream and we, as Americans, are the dreamers." —Tayari Jones, author of Silver Sparrow

“Anita Hill’s bravery, intellect and commitment to justice galvanized a generation of women. If that weren’t enough, it turns out she’s also a wonderful storyteller. ReImagining Equality will change your ideas about home, race and gender—and it’s also great fun to read.”—Peggy Orenstein, author,Cinderella Ate My Daughter

Jezebel's sexual lasciviousness, Mammy's devotion, and Sapphire's outspoken anger—these are among the most persistent stereotypes that black women encounter in contemporary American life. Hurtful and dishonest, such representations force African American women to navigate a virtual crooked room that shames them and shapes their experiences as citizens. Many respond by assuming a mantle of strength that may convince others, and even themselves, that they do not need help. But as a result, the unique political issues of black women are often ignored and marginalized.

In this groundbreaking book, Melissa V. Harris-Perry uses multiple methods of inquiry, including literary analysis, political theory, focus groups, surveys, and experimental research, to understand more deeply black women's political and emotional responses to pervasive negative race and gender images. Not a traditional political science work concerned with office-seeking, voting, or ideology,Sister Citizen instead explores how African American women understand themselves as citizens and what they expect from political organizing. Harris-Perry shows that the shared struggle to preserve an authentic self and secure recognition as a citizen links together black women in America, from the anonymous survivors of Hurricane Katrina to the current First Lady of the United States.

Melissa V. Harris-Perry is professor of political science at Tulane University, where she is founding director of the project on gender, race, and politics in the South. Her previous book, Barbershops, Bibles, and BET: Everyday Talk and Black Political Thought, won the 2005 W. E. B. Du Bois Book Award from the National Conference of Black Political Scientists and 2005 Best Book Award from the Race and Ethnic Politics Section of the American Political Science Association. She is a columnist for The Nation magazine. Harris-Perry is a contributor to MSNBC, appearing as a bi-weekly guest on the Thomas Roberts Show and a frequent guest on the Rachel Maddow Show and The Last Word. She is a regular commentator for many print and radio sources in the U.S. and abroad. She lives with her family in New Orleans.

From Nausicaä to Sailor Moon, understanding girl heroines of manga and anime within otaku culture

From Sailor Moon to Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, the worlds of Japanese anime and manga teem with prepubescent girls toting deadly weapons. Saitō Tamaki offers a sophisticated and convincing interpretation of this alluring and capable figure. For Saitō, the beautiful fighting girl is a complex sexual fantasy that paradoxically lends reality to the fictional spaces she inhabits.

"A foundational book illuminating the phenomenon of cool Japan, Beautiful Fighting Girl explains the global desire for images of little girls that kick ass. Saitō’s uncomfortably deep understanding of the particulars of this Japanese phenomenon allows us to finally begin to answer questions about the far-reaching implications of the now nearly universal fetish, of our atomizing technologies of interactivity, and of our obsessions with new media. Its place in contemporary letters is nearly unparalleled and I wouldn’t be surprised if this book gives that once a decade jostle leading to the n-th wave of feminism or a complete reconfiguration of our understanding of male desire."

—Jonathan E. Abel, Pennsylvania State University

Trafficking Women’s Human Rights

Julietta Hua

University of Minnesota Press

How images of sex trafficking produce notions of race, sex, and citizenship

Trafficking Women’s Human Rights maps the ways in which government, media, and scholarship have described sex trafficking for U.S. consumption. Uniquely broad in scope, this work considers the laws of human trafficking in conjunction with popular culture, drawing attention to the ways in which notions of racialized sexualities form our ideas about national belonging, global citizenship, and, ultimately, human rights.

"Julietta Hua provides a fresh, vital account of the fundamental pitfalls of human rights policy. This is an engaging and provocative book that frames important questions in productive and generative ways. It is a beautiful example of how sophisticated, interdisciplinary analysis can push our thinking and our actions towards true social justice. And, as this book attests, it is never easy."

An intimate and inspiring account of immigrant Latina mothers fighting for better schools for their children

In Mothers United, Andrea Dyrness chronicles the experiences of five Latina immigrant mothers in Oakland, California—one of the most troubled urban school districts in the country—as they become informed and engaged advocates for their children’s education. A powerful, inspiring story about self-learning, consciousness-raising, and empowerment, Mothers United offers important lessons for school reform movements everywhere.

"Andrea Dyrness has produced an intimate, persuasive ethnography of a new, unexpected ‘learning site’ beyond the school walls. In MothersUnited, we see the deft, sensitive hand of a genuinely ‘collaborative ethnographer’ working as a democratic, cultural broker/teacher/learner. I haven’t seen a better portrayal of activist ethnographic practice in the literature."

—Douglas Foley, University of Texas, Austin

Between Feminism and Islam: Human Rights and Sharia Law in Morocco

Zakia Salime

University of Minnesota Press

Morocco has two major women’s movements: the Islamists who hold shari’a as the platform for building a culture of women’s rights, and the feminists who use the United Nations’ framework to amend shari’a law. Zakia Salime shows how the interactions of these movements over the past two decades have transformed the debates, the organization, and the strategies of each other.

"Between Feminism and Islam challenges the common assumption in the media and the academy that Islamism and feminism are quintessentially opposed ideologies. Through a careful sociological and ethnographic account of Moroccan feminist and Islamist women’s organizations, Zakia Salime shows how the two have transformed each other through decades of activism, debate, and engagement. This is an indispensable book for sociologists of gender, religion, politics, feminism, the Middle East, and Islam."

—Saba Mahmood, author of Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject

The Madame Curie Complex

Julie Des Jardins

The Feminist Press

Why are the fields of science and technology still considered to be predominantly male professions? The Madame Curie Complex moves beyond the most common explanations -- limited access to professional training, lack of resources, exclusion from social networks of men -- to give historical context and unexpected revelations about women's contributions to the sciences. Exploring the lives of Jane Goodall, Rosalind Franklin, Rosalyn Yalow, Barbara McClintock, Rachel Carson, and the women of the Manhattan Project, Julie Des Jardins considers their personal and professional stories in relation to their male counterparts -- Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenheimer, Enrico Fermi -- to demonstrate how the gendered culture of science molds the methods, structure, and experience of the work. With lively anecdotes and vivid detail, The Madame Curie Complex reveals how women scientists have often asked different questions, used different methods, come up with different explanations for phenomena in the natural world, and how they have forever transformed a scientist's role.

"Opens the discussion about women's diverse problems and ambitions in science." --The New York Times Book Review

Women in Science: Then and Now, the newly revised 25th anniversary edition of the seminal anthology of interviews with female scientists, hits bookstores in March 2009. Acclaimed writer and journalist Vivian Gornick interviews famous and lesser-known scientists, compares their experiences from 1983 with now, and shows that, although not much has changed in the world of science, what is different is women's expectations that they can and will succeed.

Everything, from the disparaging comments by Harvard’s then-president to government reports and media coverage, focuses on the ways in which women supposedly can’t do science. Gornick’s original 100 interviews show how deep and severe discriminations against women have been in all the scientific fields. Her new interviews, with some of the same women she spoke to twenty-five years ago, provide a fresh description of the hard times and great successes these women have experienced.